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With the discovery of the Pre-Salt reserves, exploration of oil and gas is being strongly extended in Brazil, contributing to the recent increase of the demand for drilling capabilities. This paper discusses the impact of this oil discovery by assessing the relationship among the growth of proven reserves, the financial position of firms, and patent applications in the Brazilian upstream oil and gas industry. We provide empirical evidence indicating that firms with a lower financial performance prior to the pre-salt discovery were more aggressive in increasing the number of patent filings addressing technologies of the upstream oil and gas domain.

In today’s highly competitive business environment, firms can ill afford the consequences of overlooking opportunities for innovation. An organization seeking to increase its existing knowledge base, in most cases, aims to identify and pursue useful knowledge available outside its borders. However, for companies interested in engaging in collaborative arrangements for innovations, systematic approaches for knowledge transfer may become a major challenge. In our research we focus on the diffusion of innovative knowledge that occurs during a joint knowledge development process. We present an empirical study spanning the period 2004 to 2018 which aims to explore the impact inter-organizational collaboration in the form of joint patenting has on the distance between partners’ technological bases. In addition, this paper looks into the change in technological distance when joint patenting occurs between different-country and same-country partners. The empirical results of the study suggest that engagement in joint patenting positively influences the technological proximity between partners and indicates a transmission and utilization of knowledge outside of firms’ existing knowledge base. Our findings contribute to knowledge related to innovation under inter?organizational collaboration and provides a basis for further theory development and testing.

While innovation contests and intermediaries are widely used in large companies to source knowledge from the outside, it is not clear how contests could be utilized to break the barriers that SMEs face in pursuing Open Innovation. In this paper, we shed light on the topic by analysing ten innovation contests that have been successfully run in three European countries with the specific aim to create innovation opportunities between SMEs and higher education institutions, research centres, other companies, or end users. The analysis resulted in the identification of common elements that played a crucial role in these innovation contests, but were overlooked in previous research. Moreover, we collected early evidence supporting the case for innovation contests as tools to support Open Innovation policies for SMEs. On that basis, we propose a new framework that can be used by innovation intermediaries to design innovation contests specifically aiming at supporting Open Innovation in SMEs.

A few months ago, we claimed that COVID-19 had the potential to be a catalyst for change and innovation (Mention et al., 2020). Undeniably, this has indeed eventuated, but to a scale that was unforeseeable and unpredictable to many. Over the last few months, the world has literally changed. Around the world, people and communities have seen their lives put on a standstill, experiencing and experimenting with variable levels of restrictions preventing social interactions. We have learned what physical – rather than social, at least initially – distancing meant and have uncovered new ways of doing things. And that applied to almost for every single aspect of life. (...)

The term "Deep Tech" is prevalent in industry but ill-defined. In this extended letter, we define Deep Tech (technology that is difficult to develop today, with the potential to become a pervasive and easy-to-implement basic need in the future) and consider its role in evolving businesses. We suggest how organizations can position themselves to take advantage of a coming wave of innovation, with emphasis placed on Creative Destruction's role (cannibalizing product lines) in creating sustaining enterprises. Understanding the diffusion of technical innovation from hard-to-implement exciter to commodity basic need will encourage leaders to rethink their current offerings to play in a future-thinking space setting these companies apart from the competition. We provide examples drawn from successful organizations.

Distributed ledger technologies are emerging as important tools that can positively impact almost all major industries and activities in our society. They are increasingly used in various supply (value) chain applications including financial, governance, regulations, health, logistics, and other industrial sectors. In this letter, we are presenting various ongoing work related to different distributed ledger technologies and their applications in postal sector. In particular, we will highlight some of the innovations in the inclusive financial services for the underbanked and unbanked populations using distributed ledger technologies.

Over the recent years, the importance of innovation in academic R&D projects has increased. Nevertheless, innovation facilitation in the academic field has rarely been researched. Currently, innovation support focuses on the industrial context. In our study we aim to address this research gap and examine the facilitation of innovation in the academic and the industrial context. In our abductive empirical case study, we investigate the role, skills, mindset and instruments of innovation facilitators by interviewing 25 individuals from nine organizations. We discovered different behaviors and perspectives in dealing with innovation work, depending on the context of the either academic or industry-driven projects. Academic innovation projects focus on feasibility, whereas industry-driven projects focus on viability. In both contexts, the facilitators usually intend to include the user perspective (desirability). With our results we contribute to the facilitation literature and show that innovation projects and their facilitation depend on their specific context and the mentality of the facilitators. With these results, we strive to improve academic and industry-driven projects with advice for innovation practitioners and facilitators on helpful tools and important perspectives to fully exploit the innovation potential.

This paper examines the practice of open innovation by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the food industry. We adopted a multiple case study approach and conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with four food SMEs in the Flanders region of Belgium. The results of the analysis show that food SMEs practice open innovation mostly through inbound open innovation activities rather than outbound, mainly due to lack of sufficient resources. Food SMEs typically lack sufficient financial capital, technology, and human capital. Within inbound open innovation activities, collaboration with organizations is found to be a key element for food SMEs’ internal development and innovation of new products.

In this article, we explore and interpret organizational identity transformation associated with open innovation strategy of the largest telecommunication company in Italy, Telecom Italia (TIM). When TIM established eight joint laboratories within five major Italian universities to benefit from opening its business model, it transferred some of the R&D employees to the new laboratories to work with the university scientists. This organizational transformation created underexplored conditions for R&D employees engaged in the open innovation activities of the firm. Our interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) answers the question of “How do R&D employees experience organizational identity change in the process of open innovation?”. We based our analysis on interpreting lived experiences of 14 employees. Studying the phenomena of organizational identity change during the process of open innovation implementation suggests the following: (1) The process of open innovation through mobility of skilled R&D employees triggers organizational identity ambiguity and change, (2) Organizational identity ambiguity phase in the process of open innovation can be shortened by the support of parent company and managerial skills highlighting sensemaking mechanisms, (3) Constructing a shared organizational identity with university members involved in this process is an undeniable element of OI success for this strategy. We contribute to the literature by establishing linkages among organizational identity and open innovation and by building on recent works on the role of individuals within open innovation ecosystem. Our qualitative analysis draws on a conceptual framework for open innovation and organizational identity transformation.

COVID-19 pandemic-related direct public support mechanisms have received more attention than previously and budgets for SME subsidies have skyrocketed around the globe. Currently, most support measures focus on short-term liquidity needs. However, policy makers have already started thinking about which role subsidies should play in the renewal of the economic structure once the pandemic dust has settled. The pandemic offers a good opportunity to restructure a company support system taking into account the structural barriers that innovation support systems have been subject to over the last decade. The aim of the analysis in this paper is threefold: (1) to map the barriers to innovation support, (2) to offer policy makers and SME support agencies a set of solutions to overcome these barriers and (3) to re-interpret these results against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic that started to unravel shortly after finalising the set of research interviews.

ntroduction. The development of the enrichment industry has identified significant requirements for the development of new technologies and equipment, including the method of magnetic separation. Problem Statement. Advantages of cryomagnetic separation complexes are determined by the efficiency of solving the problem of creating their cryogenic support systems. Purpose. The purpose of this research is to develop a cryogenic supply system (CsC) by solution scientific technical and design and technological problems of cryomagnetic systems creation based on micro-cryogenic closed cycle systems (MCs). Materials аnd Methods. The material of the research is the design of sCs with built-in superconducting magnetic system (SMs) and two MCs. The efficiency of MCs use is determined by the method of thermal balance analysis of their modules. Results. SCS design on the basis of the nitrogen-free cryostat with integrated sMs and two close-cycle MCs and the solution of r&D problems of effective use of the MCs by method of the heat balance analysis of their modules have been proposed. The input units of the MCs modules and neck, as well as the tank, supports and screens are design in such a way as they can operate simultaneously as a system of rigidity and a system of efficient removal of heat from them to the appropriate stages of the MCs modules. The design of sCs provides operation in a stationary mode with a super small supply of liquid helium through the liquid-gas recondensation ring process, in which the gas-liquid helium mixture is an ideal cool conductor. The design of the sCs provides the manufacturability of routine maintenance, even with the change of the modules of the neck and the MCs, without depressurization of the cryostat. Conclusion. solutions of design and technological, research and technical problems are based on patents of Ukraine N103949 and N88830. The expediency of creation of the complex on the basis of a nitrogen-free cryostat with built-in SMs and two MCs operating in a stationary mode with a very small reserve of liquid helium has been substantiated.

Successful aging at work is an important topic which is pertinent to everyone who works to make a living because getting older is unavoidable. The objective of this paper is to draw on Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model to explore successful aging in the field of entrepreneurship. A conceptual approach was used to examine the successful aging in the field of entrepreneurship. Building on JD-R model, older workers who pursue entrepreneurship may have improved mental and physical health and obtain successful aging at work. The current study developed a theoretical foundation to explore successful aging in the field of entrepreneurship and offered suggestions for future research.

We initiated this series with a view to catalyse and extend the focus on conceptualisation and application of behavioural science methods for managing innovation, albeit from a whole human perspective. We started with the notion that how to increase individual (human) creativity, collaboration productivity and innovativeness in innovation projects is a common concern for most firms. After discussions on the brain-mind-behaviour triad in the beginning, the interim editorial highlighted behavioural experiments as one plausible method to further the science of managing for innovation. In this final piece on the series, we conclude with a caveat on using experimental methods in examining the human side of innovation (Salampasis and Mention 2017) and discuss avenues for future research in innovation management, which increasingly reflects a collaborative affair (Bogers et al., 2017; Heil and Bornemann 2018). (...)

This study assessed resources capability of government co-operative supporting organizations (GCSOs) in innovations dissemination to primary co-operative societies (PCSos) in Tanzania. Case study research design using multiple cases was used involving five cases. Primary data were collected using key informant interviews, focus groups discussions, documentary reviews and personal observations. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Findings indicate that, most GCSOs in Tanzania were poor in terms of resources to disseminate innovations to PCSos. Most GCSOs were also not determined at prioritizing and utilizing available resources for dissemination of innovations to PCSos. Further, some external factors e.g. inadequate government resources commitment, employment freezing and others have been adversely affecting GCSOs resources capability to disseminate innovations to PCSos. Moreover, there were no formal and comprehensive incentive systems to reward innovation dissemination activities in most of the GCSOs. It is recommended that GCSOs should mobilize more internal resources and ensure sufficient innovation resources prioritization and utilization to adequately facilitate innovations dissemination to PCSos. The GCSOs should also establish clear incentive systems to reward innovation dissemination activities.

This paper seeks to make a particular contribution in what are the roles of consultancies as key innovation intermediaries in service industry. In line with previous literature, the research purposes to test the application of Pinto et al (2016) framework within service companies, triangulating the findings of Pinto et al (2017). Four in-depth case studies of service companies were developed, resulting on detailed descriptions of the phenomenon using constructs to order the data and relate to earlier literature. Key findings highlight changes in motivations for consultancy engagement, from an initial focus on knowledge (output) to a focus on methodology (process). The adequacy of the framework proposed by Pinto et al (2016) is confirmed, and a new function of intermediaries arises from this study, related with “evaluation of innovation outcomes”. The study highlights the contribution of consultancies in preparing companies to innovate.

The innovation management literature describes a competitive advantage when applying Design Thinking (DT) in corporate environments. In this paper we study the perceived challenges, enablers, and benefits for implementing DT in publicly funded transdisciplinary industry-academia research and innovation consortia (RIC). We facilitate and investigate five large RIC from the food and high-tech industry in Norway and Germany using an explorative qualitative action research design. Our research shows that the challenges of using DT in RIC are to some extent comparable to those for the corporate context. Additionally, we identify distinct challenges for RIC. Benefits from using DT in RIC are stronger user and innovation focus, better transdisciplinary collaboration, and triangulation of qualitative with scientific data. We suggest that complex RIC benefit from an intermediary (DT) role translating business needs into research questions, and research results into understandable and business-relevant information and innovation.

The common approaches to innovation deployed by many corporations are ineffective and associated with a collection of well defined risks including hype driven and biased decision making, risk aversion, and disruption. In contrast, open innovation programs reduce these same risks and deliver a variety of substantial benefits ranging from increased innovation speed, reduced costs, and increased probability of success.

This study explores the relationships among the use of different types of humor (affiliative, aggressive, reframing, and coping humor)—both among immediate co-workers (“ingroup”), and with actors external to the firm (“outgroup”), international competitiveness, as well as innovativeness. An exploratory study based on survey data suggests that humor, when connections exist, is negatively related to international competitive potential and performance. Whether or not these negative effects emerge, depends on with whom and which type of humor is used. However, the situation is not straightforward: innovativeness is positively related to international competitiveness, and to innovativeness, humor types relate in different ways, some positive, some negative. Overall, humor seems to play a relevant, but challenging-to-manage role especially in settings where borders—organizational or national—are crossed: Humor that works as a lubricant for innovation processes, does not necessarily work directly in advancing international competitiveness.

Purpose: Most organizations seek for innovative solutions to address tabulate changes and competition. However, each organization is required for rapid and effective processes of assimilating technological innovation into its operational activities. Consistent with previous studies, the aim of this study was to understand whether an organization characterized as CAS (Complex Adaptive System) could positively affect the process of assimilating technological innovation through supporting the development of knowledge workers. Such workers deal mostly with changes. Hence, they possess the ability to combine personal benefits with organizational goals, they are sensible to changes in the environment, they understand the integration of information required for such a process, and they need the ability to socialize among themselves. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 300 employees in organizations of different sectors responded to an online questionnaire, which examined their attitude towards technological innovation in correlation with the level of organization's CAS characteristics. Pearson and regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between the functioning of the workers as CAS fractals[1] and their attitudes toward the process of assimilation of technological innovation. Findings: Workers who function as “fractals”, namely as knowledge-worker in organizations having the characteristics of CAS, were able to combine personal benefits with organizational goals. They had sensitivity to changes in the environment, integration of the information required for the process and the ability to socialize among themselves. These abilities of knowledge workers have significantly influenced the development of positive attitudes towards the process of assimilation of technological innovation, a better understanding of the technology and the advantages they gain from it, which make them ready to be involved in the process. Practical implications: The practical contribution of this study is the ability to best portray the characteristics of an optimal work environment in an organization that wishes to undergo assimilation processes, technological innovation, management and dissemination of relevant knowledge for the organization's use. Such an organization is required to provide its employees with a degree of operational autonomy enabling them to interweave personal interests and organizational goals, and to be involved and to influence the processes of assimilating technological innovation in the organization. The organization should also maintain a high level of updating, transparency, and transfer of knowledge from outside into the organization. In addition, investment in information systems for the information integration provides the employees with the possibility of social networking during their work.

This paper aims to understand about how uncertainty emerges in the innovation process. Since uncertainty is embedded in the innovation process, to understand how uncertainty emerges in the process one needs to understand how innovation process unfolds over time. Since an innovation process involves various resource recombination activities occurring in several phases, to understand how innovation process unfolds one needs understand “how do various resource recombination activities occur over time for the creation of novelty?” This knowledge would enable us to understand the conditions under which vital activities of resource recombination can/cannot be undertaken and coordinated as well as would allow us to understand the underlying decisions made by the innovators for their efficient undertaking and coordination. This paper investigates the innovation process in two companies through performing qualitative study. The innovation processes are analysed in the light of a conceptual model developed based on the Dubois’ (1994) End-product related activity structure model, Håkansson’s (1987) “ARA model” and Goldratt’s (1997) “Critical chain concept”. The findings suggest that uncertainty emerges in the innovation process in a cycle of interaction with resource void, activity void and actors’ limited cognition due to lack of knowledge, undue optimism, and rationally justified reason for disregarding information. Accordingly, a great deal of compromises is made while undertaking the activities.

Many firms from diverse sectors increasingly use artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen their efficiency by replacing human work. However, many of these advanced automation procedures will become standard tools in the future, and their relatively isolated application will not enable companies to gain a competitive advantage. Drawing on the distinction of data, information, knowledge and intelligence or wisdom, this paper suggests an intelligence-based view of firm performance as an extension of the knowledge-based view and the resource-based view. An intelligence-based perspective underscores the need to integrate AI applications with specific human expertise to complicate imitation by competitors. To sustain a competitive advantage over time, companies further need to develop a meta-intelligence to dynamically renew and recombine their intelligence architecture with multiple types of human and artificial intelligence. An intelligence-based view provides a systematic framework for assessing a firm’s possibilities to profit from AI by generating growth and innovation beyond optimization and efficiency.

It has been recognized that innovation drives the long-run economic growth of nations and increasingly governments are placing innovation at the center of their economic growth strategies. International variation in the investment on innovation presents an opportunity to examine key enablers of innovation-driving policy choices. Countries find themselves at different stages of economic development and innovation performance and so their relative levels of innovation inputs and outputs are likely to be different. In this study we employ a systems of innovation approach to examine what enables improvements in innovation potential among developed countries. Using data from the 2017 Global Innovation Index (GII) Report, we subjected 770 data measures to an analysis of 242 relationships involving changes in the GII’s innovation inputs/outputs scores and overall innovation potential of 35 OECD countries over a five year period (2012 to 2016). Our findings suggest that instituting policies that improve access to open and competitive markets is the most significant enabler for raising a developed country’s innovation potential.

This article aims to provide a conceptual framework for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to evaluate the appropriation of blockchain technology for their business needs and challenges. This conceptual framework aims to respond to the problem of increasing speculations surrounding the blockchain that is considered to be an absolute and innovative solution to many business-related problems. However, this argument might not be realistic for SMEs despite this assumption. The main argument of the article is that SMEs should be skeptical while evaluating the appropriation of this technology for their business needs and they should follow a tailored approach whilst adopting it. Otherwise, the likelihood is high that a short-term and unstructured knowledge management process to adopt blockchain will end up with a waste of resources. The present paper conceptualizes an appropriation framework within nine factors namely, reduction of costs, internalization, digital representation of assets, unalterable data recording, network size, transparent and synchronized ledger, scalability, fair trade, and financing. Given the field’s infancy state of development, the paper relies on a qualitative document analysis involving SME literature and extant literature and white papers of blockchain applications.

In the last decade, design thinking has been discussed as a new paradigm for dealing with complex business problems. The implementation of design thinking is linked with substantial changes in the organizational culture, and becomes visible in new approaches to designing office and learning spaces. To analyze proponents’ perspectives on the implementation process, we adapted Schein’s (1990, 2017) approach of different layers of an organizational culture. In general, two layers in an organization are addressed, namely visible artifacts and behaviors, as well as basic principles to think about approaches to deal with business problems (mindset). In total, eight semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with proponents to learn more about the implementation of design thinking and the architecture of related office spaces. The findings suggest that design thinking addresses both aspects—the provision and inner design of physical space as well as a change of mindset.

Worldwide wine production has a great cultural and economic importance. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to improve wine quality. The First Science & Wine World Congress was planned to be a discussion forum considering the wide wine research spectrum. The idea attracted more than 100 attendees most of which scientists. Wine sector professionals missed the call, which emphasize the necessity of implementing strategies to approach those to the academy. Among the topics discussed, the effects of wine in health was pointed out as a priority. Global forums are a good approach to discuss wine in a holist mode.

Considering, as main reference, Donald Schön’s proposal (1983, 1987) on reflective professionals’ training, and on action competencies development adjusted to solving problems in dynamic and uncertain contexts and volatile circumstances, we intend, in this letter, to resume the reflection on system thinking, considering that its singular design, by the non-standard nature that characterizes it, constitutes the foundation of innovation and development processes. Taking into account the difficulties that resistance to change necessarily brings to the training processes, we also reconvene, on the thread of history, the concept of deviation, by means of an epistemic and (multi)referential examination of the importance of divergence, in its contours, contributions and boundaries, as a vital way to refresh and reinvent perceptions, knowledge and meanings. We highlight the possibility of choice within decision-making processes, understanding it not only as a means to escape from mimetic repetition, but also as an outlet to the uncertain, the unpredictable, and the novel. That is, we intend to reflect on the nature of the creative act as poiesis, in its deep and seductive relation with the creator’s emancipation, the ethics underlying a compromise with human values, the aesthetics of adventure, and the appeal of the open work.

There is an extensive literature on characteristics of “entrepreneurial” or “innovative” universities. As both terms have generally been used to refer to the same condition, different rankings of entrepreneurial universities use indicators universally recognized for innovative activity and primarily related to research and knowledge transfer (scholarly production, patents granted and licensed, number of firms created to exploit research results, etc.). Innovation is essentially grounded in an entrepreneurial mentality, but an innovative university (hereafter, IU) is one that transmits this mentality to all of its members, including the foremost among its central missions: education. The IU is a university that becomes a driver of economic and social development in the region in which it is established, seeking to improve society through knowledge. In recent years, various attempts have been made to “measure” this innovative/ entrepreneurial character in a more technical way. In a prior study, we proposed a characterization of an entrepreneurial and innovative university. Here, we build on that study to define the IU. The originality of this proposal stems from its inclusion of the so-called third and fourth missions (knowledge transfer and social responsibility, respectively) as transversal elements implicit in the university’s two central missions. In an IU, therefore, the university’s relationship with and impact on its surrounding agents are essential aspects entwined with its two basic functions.

The purpose of this note is to introduce a simple diagram that I suggest provides an intuitive and useful way of looking at the connection between institutions and innovations, regardless of what level of institutions one is concerned with. The 'back-of-the-envelope' diagram focuses attention on the effects of a new idea on the existing ideas that some institution might represent, and the sort of innovated institution that it might help engender.

This paper develops a conceptual model for finding key factors for new product development (NPD) evaluation. It builds on the work of the most cited and published authors on innovation management, but transfers attention from advertising aspects and efficiency, to factors identified within the NPD process such as new product project definition, a firm’s resources, organisation-product fit, and commercial entity, that would lead to success with “Information acquired” being identified as the underlying key factor. This paper presents a summary of the results of correlation coefficients calculated between the factors identified and outcome measures, derived from the leading authors’ work. Further, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to evaluate the results of the correlation coefficients of sub-factors, which were modified by considering the ranking of each author.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hits Portugal in early March 2020, medical doctors, engineers and researchers, with the encouragement of the Northern Region Health Administration, teamed up to develop and build, locally and in a short time, a ventilator that might eventually be used in extreme emergency situations in the hospitals of northern Portugal. This letter tells you the story of Pneuma, a low-cost emergency ventilator designed and built under harsh isolation constraints, that gave birth to derivative designs in Brazil and Morocco, has been industrialized with 200 units being produced and is now looking forward to the certification as a medical device that will possibly support a go-to-market launch. Open intellectual property (IP), multidisciplinarity teamwork, fast prototyping and product engineering have shortened to a few months an otherwise quite longer idea-to-product route, clearly demonstrating that when scientific and engineering knowledge hold hands great challenges can be successfully faced.

This article advances the relevance of a narrative approach in studies of collaborative innovation. The narrative approach outlined is based in translation theory, developed within science and technology studies (STS) and organizational studies. The research is based in a case study of an innovation initiative in municipal elderly care in Norway. The case study follows the implementation processes of the initiative in three elderly care institutions. Various forms of resistance were encountered in the implementation process, and the analysis shows how narrative strategies worked as brokering mechanisms in negotiations of this resistance. The article explores how a collaborative innovation process evolves through interplays between strategic narratives and counter narratives and contributes by demonstrating how narratives may work as important brokering mechanisms in collaborative innovation processes. The article discusses finally how and why narrative approaches may contribute to research on collaborative innovation, and it outlines managerial implications.

The female perspective of implementing failure learning orientation is explored through the analysis of interviews with Canadian female executives of technology firms. The results of this study established several strategies for executives to use for creating an organizational culture that learns from failure. The strategies include, reimagine failure to mitigate negative emotions, focus on the root of the issue, openly discuss strategies and failures, be proactive, encourage risk-taking in experimentation, and finally, provide a calming presence.

Literature is the noblest of all the arts. Music dies on the air, or at best exists only in memory; oratory ceases with the effort; the painter’s colors fade and the canvas rots; the marble is dragged from its pedestal and is broken into fragments. Elbert Hubbard At a very early age, we start to develop a sense of playfulness. We touch things, we build things, we break them apart. Soon after we begin to utter words. We babble, we squeal, we try to imitate. Music begins to inform our bodily movements. What develops last and continues to develop throughout our waking lives is connections of words. The essential and characteristic features of words used to describe things within and around us are the hardest to grapple with. The same word can be expressed in different ways and could mean different things in different contexts. Literature, being the written expression of words in its various forms, has progressively shaped our world view. Liberal news outlets around the world have been stressing recurrently that words matter, as the imagination of some politicians’ is set loose and boundaries to what one may say seem not to exist. However, despite this current societal struggle to adhere to facts, namely amid the current pandemic, science has remained irreducible in its systematic approach supported by the scientific method where facts and doubt do co-exist as a process towards the discovery and construction of new knowledge. (...)

Competitiveness results from factors beyond the structural conditions and organizational boundaries, such as interorganizational cooperation. Evidence gathered in Brazilian credit unions suggests there is a social process in the firm for generating organizational capabilities and economic goods to satisfy needs defined by social structures in charge of solving market failures and structural deficiencies in the productive system. An exploratory and descriptive multiple case study with longitudinal qualitative data implemented using a systematic, computer-supported Process Tracing technique can refine a mathematical model of social phenomenon relying on a sequence of decision-making events of deterministic nature. Two case studies revealed that firms maintain relationships of cooperation and contribution with partners and structures in their organizational and environmental surroundings whenever their economic performance is constrained by competitive problems of systemic nature, for which there is no solution based on the mechanisms of market price and state intervention.

With almost one third of the world on a lockdown, the corporates and the offices have now rapidly shifted to working from home. Since no specific treatment has been suggested by any medical institution so far, World Health Organization has recommended that the only possible solution to be safe is to self-isolate and stay home. Due to this, the world has come to a screeching halt and the businesses have to be shifted to remote work. Work-from-Home is a very new experience for most of us and hence the perception of the people ranges from being very excited to very hopeless. This study aims to examine the sentiments of the people regarding Work-from-Home concept by analysing twitter activities posted on social media. Total 100,000 tweets were analysed for this study. Results indicate that Work-from-Home concept was taken positively by the people. The emotions associated with most of the tweets were of trust and anticipation indicating that this concept is being welcomed by the people.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a quantitative, integrative and systematic literature review of the moderating effects of dynamic capability associated with radical innovation and incremental innovation teams in the global pharmaceutical biotechnology industry. This paper utilizes a conceptual framework of dynamic capability and socio-technical theory to underpin the study. The study includes 250 articles which were originally surveyed, and then a final selection of 66 articles was based on a structured coding system. The study outcome reveals that knowledge sharing strengthens existing professional knowledge and enhances internal work coordination and consistency in employees’ behavior, and effectively integrates diverse team knowledge and experience. Open innovation has a positive effect on radical innovation and enables knowledge acquisition to form a symbiotic relationship with knowledge sharing. Learning orientation has a stronger effect on incremental innovation than on radical innovation. The limitations of the study are related to a systematic literature review for this research does not establish causality. The mediating effects of dynamic capability on teams are not explored for this research. The implications for management are as follows, teams must be given the autonomy to make decisions from a technical perspective. Tacit knowledge, open innovation, knowledge acquisition and learning orientation are areas in which priority must be given during and after acquisitions in the pharmaceutical biotechnology industry.

As we write this editorial, people around the world are apprehensive about their future; some are at home; some are thinking about the loved ones they cannot visit; some, unfortunately, are dying. We watch the graphs and listen to the daily news of new coronavirus cases, but be it just one or one thousand, for the those close of the ones affected, the impact is catastrophic. (...)

To guide future discussions about managing artificial intelligence (AI), this article suggests an AI management framework with five maturity levels, which are comparable to the five levels of the autonomous driving framework from no automation to complete automation. If companies move beyond Isolated Ignorance (Level 0), they are characterized by an Initial Intent (Level 1), which typically evolves towards an Independent Initiative (Level 2). A more advanced management leads to Interactive Implementation (Level 3) and Interdependent Innovation (Level 4). On this basis, a close combination of AI and human knowledge enables a sustainable competitive advantage with Integrated Intelligence (Level 5). This framework draws on the intelligence-based approach to company performance, and it provides the basis for an AI maturity assessment in organizations. It further helps to identify many firms’ managerial challenges as well as major organizational limitations even in those firms that are often considered as AI leaders.

Where there is little trust, can there be self-transcendence? Can one strive for openness as well as closeness between tribes? Preference to trust own clan members is much higher among Mediterranean peoples than among Germanic ones. In both Germanic and Mediterranean clusters, trusting behaviours follow culturally determined kinship patterns that are slow to change, so much so that the different Mediterranean and Germanic trust patterns still show between Latin America and the USA. Germanic managerial techniques rest on Germanic trusting behaviours that are relatively lacking in the Mediterranean cluster, among whom Germanic managerial techniques lose efficacy and self-transcendence might be a riskier path to take. Clan-friendly management among Mediterranean peoples, including rewards more readily focused on needs, teamwork and citizenship behaviour, require less controls, bringing about faster alignment and more agile organizations. These reflections are relevant to manage North African migrants into Europe, as they are to manage Latin Americans into the USA.

In this conceptual paper, we review the literature spanning the Strategic Planning, Foresight and Design disciplines with the emphasis placed on how innovation stakeholders may engage with the future in order to explore the challenges to decision-making they highlight. From this review, and a series of facilitators identified by the authors in previous design and futures thinking field research, critical perspectives are presented that illustrate how systematic futures thinking can inform decision-makers concerning the innovation challenges and opportunities emerging over medium and longer-term (5-15 years) time horizons of social and technology environments. Combining Foresight and Design in an approach we call “Foresight by Design”, as part of Strategic Planning processes, can help the emergence of new and more creative possibilities, foster the inclusion and alignment of diverse stakeholders, and provide for ongoing learning through prototyping and experimentation by using design tools and approaches to achieve deeper insight and alignment around current reality, to facilitate a more productive conversation across difference, to aid in specifying a portfolio of desirable futures, and to engage ecosystem partners in active experimentation that generates new knowledge and learning.

Wisdom of the crowds, Technological capabilities and Functional alignment, which when recognised and utilised in innovation processes, can unlock the ability to source, develop and commercialise ideas at rapid pace. The phenomenon is known as technological convergence. By definition, technological convergence is described as the process by which Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) converge towards new and more unified markets. This convergence often leverages the three dimensions of innovation – economic, technical and functional. On the economic side, the focus of a focal firm is on maximising profits with minimal costs under resource constraints brought about in-part by liberalisation of markets. In this regard, open innovation which involves harnessing wisdom of the crowds at the fuzzy front-end of the innovation process has increasingly been promoted as a pragmatic mechanism for accessing widely distributed knowledge (Thanasopon, Papdopoulos & Vidgen, 2016), in large firms (Brunswicker & Chesbrough, 2018) and SMEs (Vanhaverbeke, Frattini, Roijakkers & Usman, 2018). On the technical side, the main driver has been the rise of enabling technologies, at times revolutioning social behaviour but mostly brought about through incremental shifts in technical abilities. Finally, convergence is realised through functional alignment, characterised by integration of computational, behaviour and communication factors in a unique value-proposition delivered through new product or new service (Canals, Torres & Borés, 2001). The growing prominence of technological convergence means firms can no longer afford to work in silos or rely on proprietory waterfall solutions to achieve competitive advantage and influence societal progress. Here, we build on our July 2018 editorial which emphasised the cumulative importance of management research and management practice working together for societal progress. W-T-F is offered here as the fundamental trilogy that both managers and researchers need to address to survive and thrive in an increasingly digitised and globally-connected world. (...)

A recent review of mobile payment research by Dahlberg et al. (2015) concludes that there is a need to synthesise this research area by studying contexts in which innovation is carried out and to integrate different aspects of research. This article aims to provide a proposal for how to achieve such integration and context orientation by building on previous studies and offering an additional review. Our systematic literature review of mobile payments research is focused on papers published during 2006–2016. The main objective is to examine how mobile payments research has been conducted from the methodological and theoretical perspectives. Our findings show that research on mobile payments is a multidisciplinary research. Three main themes in the research (in line with previous studies) are customer adoption, technological aspects, and business aspects. Moreover, research is mainly analytical based on a deductive approach. To meet the challenge formulated in the previous research, we propose and apply a socio-technical system framework to achieve synthesis and context-specific consideration in future research on mobile payments.

This research develops the understanding of the innovation facilitator’s (facilitator) role for inexperienced innovation teams in an industrial context. Qualitative data was collected from X-functional Innovation teams’ members and their sponsor to identify requirements of a facilitator. Forty characteristics were identified and charted in an innovation process. Significant findings, contributing to prior research, are that the facilitator’s presence and involvement in the innovation teams was crucial in the pre- and first phase of the innovation process due to the very high complexity, where personal characteristics as well as e.g. facilitating-, teaching-, coaching-, group dynamic- skills were central. The importance of the pre-phase was unexpected, resulting in an extended innovation process: The Extended Innovation Process (EIP), for which the traditional innovation process was extended with a preparation-phase before the initial ideation-phase. This knowledge is applicable when e.g. creating and educating new innovation teams within an organization. Future research is suggested.

The story of societal progress has long been acknowledged to involve two brothers - management research and management practice (Beyer, 1982). Although, reared by the same knowledge core (Poole and Van de Ven, 1989; Wallin and von Krogh, 2010), the brothers in a display of their contrasting lives behave independently, often disparately. Their distinct behaviour has prompted scholars to report that ’most of what management researchers do utterly fails to resonate with management practice’ (Bansal et al., 2012, p. 73). Those observing the relationship unfold have been concerned of this disconnect for decades (Banks et al., 2016; Hambrick, 1994; Shapiro, Kirkman and Courtney, 2007). Gordon and Howell (1959) posited that universities and business schools need to be ’better informed and more scholarly faculties that are capable of carrying on more significant research, and with greater appreciation of the contributions to be made to the development of business competence’ (p.425). (...)

Design thinking in the management context has suffered from vague definition, gaps in literature, and lack of theoretical foundation. Research streams in absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities have reached a point of convergence with respect to design thinking and absorption of external knowledge. As such, this study draws on both absorptive capacity and dynamic capability theory to provide theoretical foundation for the strategic consideration of design thinking in strategy, organization design, and organizational learning. In doing so, this study extends seminal absorptive capacity theory providing empirical evidence of design thinking as a dynamic capability to enhance absorptive capacity. Additionally, this study extends dynamic capabilities theory by confirming design thinking as a means of integration, learning, and reconfiguring knowledge to build competitive advantage. Therefore, this study merges existing research streams to empirically validate design thinking as a dynamic capability which must be strategically considered.

This article presents an exploratory study investigating the influence of an enterprise’s size on its perception and assessment of the benefits and risks expected from participating in open innovation projects. For this purpose an online survey was conducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The result of this paper is empirical evidence showing how the size of an enterprise affects its perception of potential benefits and risks expected within the context of open innovation project participation. Furthermore, the identified effects are discussed against the theory. Existing theory regarding the benefits and risks of open innovation is expanded by 1) finding that they are perceived mostly independently of enterprise size, 2) confirming their practical relevance, and 3) enabling a finer distinction between their degrees of relevance for small, medium, and large enterprises.

Though data is largely recognized as a new form of capital in the digital era, little research has been done on how innovations related to finding health professionals and using health services are evolving in smart-city-based, preventive healthcare service delivery networks. How does digital data affect preventive healthcare practices in service delivery networks? Evidence is provided from a smart city service delivery network on how data and ICT usage impact preventive healthcare innovations. The research is based on a case study highlighting the transformations continuously occurring in such a network. The results suggest that using data from different sectors will enable individuals and health professionals to communicate via intelligent personalized services, which will act as agents, guiding and coaching individuals to change their lifestyles to avoid chronic diseases. This study provides new knowledge on how continuously using health data can produce novel routines and innovations in healthcare networks over time.

Were you ever asked by a manager to ‘do what you want’, where you felt free to innovate? Did it feel like freedom? Maybe you felt encouraged since you could now experiment your idea, but did it mean that your performance was now on the radar? Could you then stay true to your vision or did you feel the need to compromise so that the ‘numbers lined up’? Either way, you should know that you are not alone. Arguably, we are in an age of paradox1 where simultaneous contradic- tions are all too common. Innovation paradox arises when “the aggressive pursuit of operational excellence and incremental innovation crowds out the possibility of creating ground-breaking innovations” (Davila & Epstein, 2014, p.2). Often these contradictions are meaningful on their own merit but when interdependent on each other, they create tensions in economic, social, environmental and ethical decision-making. In previous editorials, we have shared how digital innovations and societal disparity across the world are influencing strategic decision-making and shifting the innovation mindset. We now stretch the boundaries by suggesting that paradigms relying on economic trade-offs and shared-value that have shaped conventional organisational strategies are no longer sufficient to guide paradoxical tensions in decision-making. (...)

Many organizations find themselves at the "front end of innovation", that is, they know they need to do something, but they are not quite sure what to do. Through our research, we have learned much more about the practice and implementation of innovation. For example, we have discovered that innovation is most successful if there is leadership support for a culture of innovation combined with systematic approaches to embed and reinforce innovative behaviours. This article outlines a case study of an organization in the financial services industry who began their innovation journey a number of years ago, and reports on the progress of a sustained and deliberate approach. This research highlights the relationship between an innovation cultural assessment model and its utilization as a framework to manage the implementation of activities to support the development of an innovation approach in a context specific scenario. A case study methodology was adopted that utilized an innovation culture model as a measurement tool. By actively observing the organization, including two cultural assessments over a 4-year period, the findings indicate that an innovation assessment model is useful as an approach to advance the innovation agenda in the organization. In this sense, the research findings are of interest to academics looking to conceptualize a broader implementation framework that is closely associated to the innovation measure associated with the organization. As well, practitioners looking to advance their innovation platforms will find the framework useful as they plan initiatives aimed at advancing their innovation agendas.

Research studies of SME innovation practice observe some common themes, such as an orientation towards networking, and some differences that may seem activity-related (e.g. production or service). In this paper we suggest the kinds of innovation activity undertaken by an SME will depend on their dominant business model and owner/enterprise attitudes, each one being moderated by purposeful networking. This is illustrated in our review of data from 50 case studies, where combining a CEO narrative analysis with secondary data on the nature of the firm has identified seven generic manufacturing business models. We observe these may be adopted singly or in combination to pursue a competitive advantage, and the dominant business model may change over time as new capabilities are developed and/or in response to market changes.